A
day of diving off Santa Cruz Island ended like countless others
aboard the Conception, with dozens of divers asleep in tightly
arranged bunks that all but filled the belly of the 75-foot boat. As
always, there were two ways out in case of emergency — up a curved
stairway at the front of the cabin, or through an escape hatch in the
ceiling over bunks at the rear. Before dawn on Labor Day, when flames
devoured the 38-year-old wooden-hulled vessel, no one below deck made
it out of either exit. The only survivors were five crew members who
were up top in the wheelhouse and managed to jump into the water and
then onto a dinghy. Now, as investigators search for the cause of the
fire that killed everyone in the bunk room — one crew member and
all 33 passengers — questions are mounting about the design of the
Conception and its emergency escape routes.